Carriage, wagon, wheelbarrow, chaise. Massachusetts.
191. The first of these button formulæ is used by boys to foretell their profession in life. A friend remembers how in childhood his buttons were completely worn out by the continual practice of the inquiry.
192. With reference to the acquisition of a coat:--
Bought, given, stolen. Massachusetts.
193. "Rich man, poor man, beggar, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief." Said over by little girls on their back hair combs to find the occupation of their future husbands. New York.
FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER.
194. If a girl puts a two-leaved clover in her shoe, the first man who comes on the side where the clover is will be her future husband. Michigan.
195. Put a four-leaved clover in your shoe, and you will marry a man having the first name of the man whom you meet first after doing it. Province of Quebec.
196. With a four-leaved clover in your shoe, you will meet your lover. Michigan.
197. If the finder of a four-leaved clover put it in her own shoe, she will marry the first person with whom she crosses a bridge. Michigan.
198. Put a four-leaved clover over the door. The first person to pass beneath will be your future mate. Newport, R.I., and Michigan.
COUNTING.
199. Count sixty white horses and one white mule, then you will marry the first man with whom you shake hands. Chestertown, Md.
200. Count a hundred white horses and two white mules, and the first person you shake hands with you'll marry. Pennsylvania.
201. Count a hundred white horses during leap year. The first man that shakes hands with you after you have your hundred will be your future husband. Bedford, Mass.
202. Count one hundred gray horses (one mule stands for ten horses), and the first gentleman with whom you shake hands is your intended. Alabama.
203. After meeting ninety-nine white horses and a brown one for the hundredth, the first person with whom you shake hands will be your future mate. Newport, R.I.
204. Count five hundred colored people, and the next gentleman you meet you will marry. Cambridge, Mass.
205. Count ninety-nine negroes and one white horse, and the first boy you answer "yes" or "no" to you will marry. South Boston, Mass.
206. Count forty white horses, the first man you meet afterwards you'll marry. Champaign, Ill.
207. In crossing a bridge, if one sees two white horses on it (in different teams) and wishes at once for a man to marry her, she'll get him. Peabody, Mass.
208. Count a hundred "tips" (a bow with the lifting of the hat). The hundredth will be your future husband. Eastern Massachusetts.
209. Count the buttons of an old boot. The number of buttons indicates the number of years before marriage. Massachusetts.
210. If you count the boards of the ceiling (loft) in a strange room before going to sleep, you will dream of your lover. Newfoundland.
DAISY PETALS.
211. Pull off the "petals" of a daisy one by one, naming a boy (or a girl as the case may be) at each one, thus, "Jenny, Fanny, Jenny, Fanny," etc. The one named with the last petal is your sweetheart. The seeds which remain on the back of your hand after taking them up show the number of your children.
212. Common at the present time is the formula:--
He loves me, he loves me not.
213. To tell the fortune, take an "ox-eye daisy," and pluck the "petals" one by one, using the same words as have been given above for buttons. General in the United States.
In Ohio and other Western States where the ox-eye daisy is not common, children use instead the bloom of the despised dog-fennel.
214. Fortunes are told by pulling off leaflets of a compound leaf, such as the locust, repeating, "Rich man, poor man," etc. Central Illinois.
